The Lorehounds Play - E06 - Halo

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[00:00:46] Welcome to The Lorehounds Play where The Lorehounds your guides to pixel-based adventures. I'm John.

[00:00:52] I'm Brandon. And I'm John. And this is our sixth The Lorehounds Play podcast. This time for Halo.

[00:00:59] In this episode, we'll be discussing the entire Halo game franchise all the way from Combat Evolved

[00:01:04] to Infinite. We'll also have a pitch for the Halo TV show by John. Before we get started,

[00:01:11] quick reminder that you can send feedback to LHP at thelorehounds.com or leave us a voicemail

[00:01:17] at thelorehounds.com slash contact and we'll get to those questions in the next episode.

[00:01:24] If you're enjoying our coverage of video games or any of the other shows we're covering and you'd

[00:01:27] like to support us directly, head over to patreon.com slash The Lorehounds and subscribe

[00:01:32] today for early and ad-free access to every episode as well as bonus content like second

[00:01:37] breakfast and Shire Side Chats. Another quick ask please take a moment to rate the podcast

[00:01:43] and leave a review. Ratings and reviews help other people find the podcast which helps us make more

[00:01:50] podcasts. So, John, you've never been on the Lorehounds Play before, though you are a Lorehounds veteran.

[00:01:57] Welcome, welcome to the podcast. Well, thank you very much for having me. I'm excited to be

[00:02:02] here. My exuberance is overflowing right now. Well, you had heard on our... We had like a team,

[00:02:10] you know, all hands meeting about a month ago where we were just like, hey, well, let's discuss

[00:02:15] ideas for the next year where we're at, where we're going. And you heard we were doing something

[00:02:19] on Halo and you went, excuse me? Let me get it. You didn't do that without me. I was like, oh,

[00:02:24] I don't want to exclude you, John. John, you're always welcome on the Lorehounds Play,

[00:02:27] but I'm glad we have you here for Halo especially. Awesome, awesome, awesome. Thank you, thank you.

[00:02:32] And I think this podcast is going to be...

[00:02:35] Killtacular.

[00:02:40] We're going to have a great time today. Great time today. So, in this podcast, we generally have

[00:02:47] been very experimental and like, what are we going to do on the format this time?

[00:02:52] I've kind of tried to boil it down the last couple episodes starting with Final Fantasy 7 Remake.

[00:02:57] So, we're doing a what have we been playing segment, you know, quick few minutes,

[00:03:02] gaming news, quick segment, background on the game, spoiler free rating, red, green, yellow.

[00:03:08] I'll explain the rating system later and then a spoilery review.

[00:03:12] So, let's start quick with what we've been playing lately. John, you're the guest here.

[00:03:17] You're the new face or the new voice, I guess is an audio only podcast.

[00:03:22] What have you been playing?

[00:03:23] So, thanks again for having me and I don't want any tomatoes to fly my way.

[00:03:32] I'm just going to say this because I am playing Mass Effect Andromeda.

[00:03:41] No tomatoes. Absolutely no tomatoes.

[00:03:44] I've gone back to it. I've gone back to it.

[00:03:47] I know there are a lot of Mass Effect fans who were highly disappointed with Andromeda.

[00:03:53] But yeah, I picked it up again this week.

[00:03:57] And I'm thoroughly going to explore this gameplay again for I don't know how many

[00:04:04] this will make maybe my 10th go around. If not more probably more than that.

[00:04:10] Yeah. So yeah, that's what I'm playing right now along with MLB the show.

[00:04:18] Is that on Game Pass again?

[00:04:19] Yes. That's a good deal.

[00:04:22] The MLB the show is on Game Pass but the Mass Effect is owned.

[00:04:28] Okay. You probably get that for like $2 these days.

[00:04:31] Yeah, basically.

[00:04:32] As far as I'm concerned there's no gaming guilty pleasures just like with music.

[00:04:38] I'll be the first to tell you that Taylor Swift is one of my first

[00:04:42] musical acts ever. So if something makes you happy who cares what other people think.

[00:04:48] Also I've heard great things honestly from people after Andromeda came out upon

[00:04:55] retrospection like you know this caught a lot of shit but it was pretty awesome all things considered.

[00:05:02] So yeah, it got a lot of flak in real time and I've always like Mass Effect is one of my favorite

[00:05:09] franchises. So I've played it's really close to me. So I really enjoyed the entire lore,

[00:05:19] the entire series and yeah I went back to Andromeda this week so I'm kind of happy.

[00:05:25] Very cool. I've never been big into Mass Effect just because I kind of missed it when I was in

[00:05:29] high school and it was coming out but I've always wanted to get into it. It looks like a

[00:05:33] really fun world. It looks like it'd be really good to do like a TV show on even

[00:05:38] so many like politics and yeah it could be very much like the expanse.

[00:05:43] But yeah I'm glad to hear that it's aged better than it came out because like you said there was

[00:05:49] I think a lot of backlash to it being different from the previous games and I'm glad to hear

[00:05:56] that it's sort of you can revisit and have a good time. I only ever actually played the first

[00:06:02] one. Oh wow wow. I started crawling into the second one but and this is probably sacrilege

[00:06:10] but I didn't think it felt as good to play as the first game. Really? Yeah I know. I'm the only

[00:06:16] person in the world who thinks that but yeah I think actually Mass Effect is pretty

[00:06:24] right up the barrel for like as far as the Lorehounds episode goes so maybe we'll have to

[00:06:29] throw that on the books. I think you guys would really enjoy the choices that you have to make,

[00:06:36] the world that they do build it's really pretty engaging and it's really all encompassing.

[00:06:43] Yeah. You've got to block out a lot of hours for it. Yeah you do. You'll be playing it for

[00:06:48] yeah. I don't know how many episodes of the Lorehounds play that you've actually

[00:06:54] listened to Jean but it might be we might have to do a couple Lorehounds play-throughs of

[00:07:00] those games to get it done. No yeah it would be exhausting. Yeah. Well Jean the Lorehounds run if

[00:07:10] you haven't heard us throw around the term before is we put it on easy mode we do zero side quest

[00:07:14] and we run run run through this so that we can talk about it. I've heard you guys say it

[00:07:17] before yeah. Okay okay okay. Yeah Brandon even still it would be exhausting that's what I'm saying.

[00:07:26] That's how that's how that's how all encompassing that world is. Fair enough. Even on easy.

[00:07:34] Brandon I think I know the answer but what have you been playing? I have been

[00:07:39] living breathing dreaming and just just subsisting on Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth.

[00:07:49] I've probably got about the soundtrack came out yesterday and that's all I've been listening to

[00:07:59] and I've probably got about all said 110 hours clocked into the game itself. Wow.

[00:08:05] Wow. That is the only media I've been consuming since it came out. Wow. I've watched no television

[00:08:12] I've watched no movies I've played no other games except for Destiny actually has had a pretty fun

[00:08:20] sort of a midway through cover your assics or you know like season but yeah

[00:08:28] not to spoil next episode of the Lord Hound's Play but I am loving it.

[00:08:36] Yeah yeah I know Brandon you've been you and I have been talking about how we should just

[00:08:40] cover it next because we're both playing it. Yeah. I'm sure you finished the main quest

[00:08:45] well beyond now you've just been side questing right? Yeah I'm covering up all my loose ends.

[00:08:51] I did the official quote unquote side quests during the main playthrough but I'm picking up

[00:08:59] everything that I left behind so I'm gonna 100% the game. Gotcha well you know I think when we do that

[00:09:07] I'm gonna put Chadley's Bieber as one of the soundboard sounds and I'm just gonna do it every

[00:09:12] time I talk. Yeah that's a good idea. Yeah I mean I've not to the extent of you Brandon but

[00:09:22] I've been playing a lot of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth I've been 40 hours in I'm through about

[00:09:31] halfway probably through chapter 10 in Cosmo Canyon so we're having a good time me and Red

[00:09:37] I'm gonna guess that you did your date with Red by the way Brandon that's gonna be my guess

[00:09:43] don't tell me don't tell me I'm just gonna guess okay you can keep that in your heart.

[00:09:49] I don't know I haven't gotten there yet but I know it comes but anyway

[00:09:54] so and then my other game that I'm playing put in a lot of hours into because I've been

[00:09:58] traveling a lot is on my Steam Deck I've been playing Stardew Valley they put out a new

[00:10:02] update where there's like an animal-based farm I don't know if either of you are Stardew people

[00:10:09] I'm not it's a whole lot. I know others who are yeah. I've only played about 20 minutes of Stardew

[00:10:15] but it's definitely something I'm going to get to eventually. Oh I have like 130 hours in that

[00:10:20] game I've played like a crazy amount of that game and I probably will get even higher and higher

[00:10:27] and higher because the more I play it the more addicting it becomes I've even started playing

[00:10:32] it on PlayStation with my wife I'm trying to get her into it I we're raising our chickens I'm naming

[00:10:38] them after Lord of the Rings characters we're having a great time. That's great. Oh my gosh.

[00:10:44] So that's what we're playing folks let's talk a little bit about gaming news there's a couple

[00:10:50] new stories I just wanted to highlight here because that we've covered some Star Wars games

[00:10:54] here and this is a big Star Wars channel I wanted to highlight that Ubisoft is coming out with

[00:11:00] Star Wars outlaws coming out with the the new Star Wars open world game in August of this year it's

[00:11:07] finally coming everybody hype. I have a fraught relationship with Star Wars but Ubisoft has been

[00:11:16] I believe on a bit of a streak coming out with pretty quality releases as a plate. They're

[00:11:23] on a redemption arc although they had that sailing game they had the para game that

[00:11:28] was horrible. Oh yeah well that one was always going to be doomed but it was supposed to be a Drupal A

[00:11:36] yeah they've been it's the skull and bones has been one of those things it's been basically a joke in

[00:11:41] the gaming community for so long like no matter what they were going to do it was just going to be

[00:11:47] Assassin's Creed Black Flag but just the ships so I don't know and I don't think anybody wants

[00:11:52] that. Nope because you can just because Assassin's Creed Black Flag is solid pretty playable yeah yep

[00:12:01] yeah yeah it's really a shame but anyway I've enjoyed my fair share of Ubisoft games I mean I

[00:12:08] loved the classic Assassin's Creed I've enjoyed a lot of Assassin's Creed Odyssey I thought it was

[00:12:15] too long and I couldn't finish it but you know it's they've they've done some good stuff

[00:12:20] recently and you know a lot of it has that you know formula you know give me the same formula

[00:12:25] every single time aspect to it but I did hear today there are no map towers in the Star Wars game.

[00:12:33] Oh wow. Which is a big departure. That's interesting. It's going to be a whole different thing. Yeah

[00:12:40] Ubisoft for that tower what are we going to do? I mean I'm going to probably play a day one

[00:12:44] I mean I just love Star Wars. I want to play an open world Star Wars game. Absolutely. I've wanted for

[00:12:49] a long time. Yeah that's always been the hope for a Star Wars game is finally because it's such a

[00:12:55] it's such a lived in awesome world and everyone wants to kind of role play in it so

[00:13:00] it's surprising that they haven't really nailed that yet but Star Wars has just been in so many

[00:13:05] hands so right hopefully this is some better than others. Yeah yeah yeah talks of the PS5

[00:13:16] pro next gen Xbox switch to are we ready for the next gen? Yes. John. You ready already?

[00:13:24] Yeah. Make your case. I'm just ready for super fast super sharp graphics all around.

[00:13:39] I don't think you should have to be tied into a particular like you have to have this sort of

[00:13:46] setup in order to enjoy a game at its best. I think the console should allow you to

[00:13:52] enjoy the game at its best. Everybody's you know running around trying to find parts to make their

[00:13:58] their consoles better to make their TVs look better to just to have a better gaming experience.

[00:14:04] If we're shelling out the money that we're shelling out for games and for consoles

[00:14:08] then it should already be that. So I'm hoping this next gen cuts down on having to buy

[00:14:17] extra things in order to play the game as it was meant to be played quote unquote.

[00:14:24] It's a good point I think especially when you have a lot of games most games nowadays have

[00:14:29] do you want performance or quality mode right? Yeah this is where I'm at.

[00:14:33] And it would be so nice like and this was a big discussion in Final Fantasy Rebirth because

[00:14:39] performance mode looks significantly worse than quality mode which I don't think that's

[00:14:44] the case for most games. I think most games you know you could tell if you're looking closely but

[00:14:47] generally it's about the same. It's just you know 4k upscaled basically.

[00:14:53] But Final Fantasy Rebirth for some reason looks like garbage on performance mode

[00:14:57] and I still play it on performance mode because I just hate I'm so spoiled I just

[00:15:02] absolutely hate 30 frames a second now. Yeah I'm not playing anything I don't even play the

[00:15:06] switch because it's pretty much everything is locked in at 30 FPS. If you're lucky I mean.

[00:15:11] Yeah yeah yeah. I hear the argument all the time the best game of all time Ocarina of Time was a

[00:15:17] locked 20 FPS and everyone loves that but we are not playing that game anymore that way this day.

[00:15:24] Right. Yeah I want I need 60 frames at least and yeah I mean if the promise of

[00:15:33] 60 FPS locked with you know the full 4k is what we're gonna get

[00:15:39] but I've never been a mid-gen refresher guy so I don't think I'm gonna pick those up because

[00:15:45] I'll just upgrade my PC if I want the games to look better. Well the interesting thing is that

[00:15:50] you know PS5 PlayStation is talking about a PS5 Pro but you have Xbox just talking about we're

[00:15:56] working on the next Xbox don't even worry about a mid-gen it sounds like. Right yeah right

[00:16:00] it's not a mid-gen it's a completely new console so yeah well I think they'd

[00:16:07] kind of have to do that if they wanted to get free of the series S because they've shot themselves

[00:16:13] in the foot because now they're sort of locked into this because they have to have parody releases

[00:16:19] from their their flagship games with with both the series X and the series S. Well they've already

[00:16:25] backed away from that a little bit with Baldur's Gate because they weren't going to get the game

[00:16:28] of the year because of that rule. Yeah I think that was the only exception that they've made

[00:16:33] so far but yeah so I think they'd definitely be eager to not have to be tied back to that level of

[00:16:44] fidelity and you know. Yeah I don't know I'm I'm eager for new stuff as always my wife isn't excited

[00:16:53] for me to buy a whole other console again she was like I thought this was gonna buy me five or six

[00:16:57] years at least. I mean no I think it will I mean I think that we're not going to see this before

[00:17:04] 2026 the earliest. Yeah I don't think so I think I think that's true but and it just it still feels

[00:17:11] like we just haven't reached the potential yet of what the current gen consoles are able to do

[00:17:16] so I mean hopefully hopefully we see it. Yeah I mean the launch was really just between an

[00:17:24] economic downturn from the pandemic and the supply chain issues I mean the Suez Canal if we

[00:17:31] just go back to that. I love that you can. Suez Canal in face of this whole generation slowdown

[00:17:39] to that impart. Right. You know I just think that this generation is always going to be like

[00:17:47] the weird one that like didn't quite start on time. Yeah you had a alien vacuum cleaner and

[00:17:57] the two flagship consoles. Yeah well my wife always says that the PlayStation 5 looks like

[00:18:03] the female anatomy but anyway anyway uh switch to just real quick switch to we getting it we

[00:18:12] excited no. I historically have picked up Nintendo games when a Pokemon game I want to play comes out

[00:18:21] but I'm not going to play another Pokemon game I don't think so I don't know we'll see we'll see

[00:18:26] what games come out that's true that's true but I can play that on the Xbox. Yeah yeah right

[00:18:32] so no we'll see we'll see what games come out I have yet to play the modern Zelda games

[00:18:39] and I won't until I can play them at 60 FPS so if that's available on the Switch dude then I'll do it.

[00:18:45] I'm gonna say doubtful I'm gonna say I'll get it but it won't be for me it'll be for my son

[00:18:51] like fair enough fair enough the switches is look I yeah I mean look it's it's a it was

[00:18:59] especially great before we had the Steam Deck right because that was really the only quality

[00:19:04] handheld option if you want to especially for like casual gaming right because there were always these

[00:19:08] like handheld PCs I know but that's that's a lot of like you have to have some technical know-how for

[00:19:13] that you can't just you know pick up and play pick it up yeah and then the Steam Deck kind of said

[00:19:18] okay you can do PC gaming a little simpler and that that I think changed the market a lot.

[00:19:23] All right so let's move on to the main subject Halo uh I want to give a little bit

[00:19:28] of background on the Halo franchise before we give our spoiler free rating recommendation

[00:19:32] what we want to do on on is this something that you actually want to play uh and is this

[00:19:38] something that you'd recommend to everybody but anyway background on the Halo franchise it started

[00:19:43] being developed by Bungie in 1995 there were multiple gameplay components that came together

[00:19:49] you know they're working on it sounds like several games that just kind of like was there an RTS

[00:19:54] segment of it third-person shooter you know a bunch of the vehicular combat like all these

[00:19:59] different things kind of came together and this was actually going to be launched on the Mac and

[00:20:06] that was presented it was announced at this Macworld Expo and it's Steve Jobs like yeah Halo's

[00:20:12] gonna be the next big thing on Mac Incomes Microsoft they say yes we will buy that please

[00:20:18] and it's no longer on Mac or even PC it's coming only to Xbox this weird new console

[00:20:24] that they're making uh nobody believed in the PlayStation when that was coming out against

[00:20:28] the Nintendo nobody believed in the Xbox when that was coming in especially you still had the

[00:20:33] Dreamcast going back then for all for all you Gen Zers back there we used to have real console

[00:20:39] wars where there was death involved there was the the Dreamcast lived and died before you took

[00:20:45] your first breath and uh it's yeah yeah it was it was uh quite a lot more uh hostile of a console

[00:20:55] environment I would say today it's honestly pretty tame especially with cross-play and things like

[00:21:00] that I was just gonna say yeah definitely like we as a gaming community destroyed Sega's hopes

[00:21:06] of a console by ripping and pirating all of its games uh which is what led to the downfall

[00:21:12] of the Dreamcast yeah and then like that some of the 90s ads uh of just console warrior nonsense

[00:21:21] are just like they're kind of a fun trip down memory lane like we'll get our edgy everyone used to be

[00:21:27] yeah it's it's kind of wild to look back yeah especially Nintendo and uh Nintendo and

[00:21:34] PlayStation I think through the most bows back in that fight from what I can remember

[00:21:39] say yeah and people were really like you said the people folks are really serious about it yeah

[00:21:46] it was the cause of many uh friendships hanging on some shaky ground I'll tell you that much yeah

[00:21:54] we now think of like console war stuff as like the cringiest bullshit in the gaming industry

[00:22:00] as of right now but um but yeah back then it was serious what box you had yeah which is funny

[00:22:07] because it was pre multiplayer right so you didn't even have to worry about what your friends had

[00:22:12] exactly it's it's so weird but anyway we got out of it and the xbox arose with halo this new ip

[00:22:22] and took the world by storm it revolutionized this whole online multiplayer thing you know

[00:22:28] microsoft was really innovating at the time by being the first console to actually offer

[00:22:34] um what am I trying to say broadband connections ethernet connections rather than just dial up

[00:22:40] connections and this is really what allowed online multiplayer to become a thing I I honestly think

[00:22:46] that the xbox more so than the other consoles led to the creation of these online gaming communities

[00:22:54] I'm sure it would have happened eventually but I think it really accelerated it

[00:22:57] and uh I don't know about you too but that's that's always been my feeling yeah I mean

[00:23:02] yeah back in the day they had it was funny enough called xbox connect was like a thing that you would

[00:23:07] use to uh to get online and play with your buds and I remember halo two being the first thing that I

[00:23:12] used for that me too me too my brother so I was I was like eight years old my brother was 13 he

[00:23:19] handed me the controller and said come on I need a second player and that that's just

[00:23:23] that was my first online gaming experience it was crazy wow hell yeah john you were going to

[00:23:29] say something no I completely agree with both of what you both said um those were great times man

[00:23:38] absolutely fun times it was it was so new so novel and I don't think um

[00:23:47] when when you're in it you don't understand but looking back at it some of my friends and I

[00:23:53] just say wow this was like ground baking stuff that we were a part of you know what I mean

[00:23:58] yeah well that and and you know for you youngins out there again I'm gonna make this joke but uh we

[00:24:05] didn't have party chat back then you had no party chat so you couldn't just group up and talk to only

[00:24:10] your friends if you had a mic you were talking to everybody on your team and in between games you

[00:24:15] were talking to the other team you were talking so much trash my god so much did we talk trash

[00:24:22] and it's terrible oh my god yes some people were just like let me take it into a very disgusting

[00:24:32] you know segment but the point is the point is uh I do think there was some kind of magic when

[00:24:38] you're on a team and you're forced to talk to your teammates you know every I don't remember if

[00:24:43] their original Xbox did but the 360 definitely came with a mic right the 360 came with a mic so

[00:24:47] everybody had a mic we were all just like on chat let's figure it out let's let's be a team and

[00:24:53] I think that's something that we have lost in gaming generally yeah definitely with halo three

[00:25:00] with uh that coming out on the 360 and the integrated not integrated but yeah it came with a

[00:25:07] mic in the box I think that's when probably all of us reached the pinnacle of our like

[00:25:12] shit talking abilities between halo three and I think modern warfare one of those modern warfare yeah

[00:25:20] man the just the if you could if you could take a slice of an era of voice chat and put it directly

[00:25:27] in jail with all of the with all of the slurs and just horrible things that would come out of

[00:25:32] people's not even in the jail under the jail like bury it under the jail that's how bad it was

[00:25:40] I had a we had a we had a couple of designated people that would that would wear the headsets

[00:25:45] and not even play the game they were just better at talking shit so they get on mic

[00:25:49] my god while our best players would be playing the actual game oh it's pretty good it's pretty

[00:25:55] good unfortunately I was a designated shit talker but I would do it in character because

[00:25:59] I was an actor boy from the drama club so I would be a character and I don't I don't want

[00:26:04] to hear back some of the the characters I played from back then but um yeah we were all a little

[00:26:10] wilder back in the day I'll say that all right so beyond the toxicity of the classic halo chats

[00:26:18] I do you think there was some pioneering of the modern yes definitely definitely uh so so

[00:26:23] bungee was the original developer of course they left Microsoft they bought themselves out in

[00:26:28] 2007 but they left Microsoft with the halo IP so Microsoft was like what the heck did we do

[00:26:33] with this they created a new studio but you know with some old people from bungee and some new players

[00:26:39] and they called it 343 industries which 343 guilty spark is a character in the first halo that's

[00:26:45] that's I guess how they got that um and that is the studio that's been responsible for halo

[00:26:50] since so for most of its history uh debatably doing a good job or a bad job we'll we'll see

[00:26:56] we'll talk about it more in the spoiler section but um there's been a ton of games out I

[00:27:01] counted 10 we've got halo combat evolved the original game in 2001 followed by halo two three

[00:27:08] od st reach four five infinite then two rts spin offs called halo wars one and two you got plenty

[00:27:16] of stuff to play if you want to get into this universe there's a lot of lore in this universe

[00:27:21] which I think makes it really good for the lore hounds and I want to get into it in the spoiler

[00:27:26] section now you know I've labored the spoiler free section already but uh boy boy is there a

[00:27:32] lot of lore to talk about yes there is so if you were going to talk to somebody you know if

[00:27:40] somebody's coming to this for the first time and they've never played halo would you say it's a

[00:27:45] would not recommend today today I'm saying uh not not back then not experiencing it live but

[00:27:50] like would you say that at least some of the games are a would not recommend which is red light

[00:27:56] a would recommend yellow light or a mandatory playthrough which is a green light I've got a

[00:28:03] two pronged answer to this one okay go on uh the multiplayer I give it a yellow light

[00:28:11] interesting interesting I think almost all of the games hold up pretty well as multiplayer

[00:28:18] shooters to this day they feel great on controller or on mouse and keyboard so wherever you're

[00:28:26] comfortable playing you're going to get a pretty good shooter experience pretty much the pinnacle

[00:28:31] of the shooter experience and the not not only the pinnacle but the like that this is where it

[00:28:40] came from especially on controller but this is this is the foundation for a controller shooter

[00:28:47] yeah but there are games that obviously smoke it out of the water right now as far as like

[00:28:52] shooters go so if you're a fan of shooters and you want to see kind of where they came from

[00:28:57] as they are today um and you want to play like well fought out maps that are that have stood

[00:29:02] the test of time I think halo you can do almost no better and then for the campaigns

[00:29:10] themselves I will give them a straight up uh syscal and ebert two thumbs up uh we're getting a green

[00:29:17] light on that one because I think that they're such a fun uh campaign experience especially if

[00:29:23] you get into like all of them our work our playthrough yes I will say um okay okay well

[00:29:30] we'll go with the well we'll go with the bungee releases ah there we go there it is thank you

[00:29:36] thank you I was waiting I was waiting for it I was waiting for it uh one two three and reach

[00:29:41] uh and uh definitely od sd I would I would say straight up green light and we'll give the other ones

[00:29:46] a yellow okay fair enough fair enough genre straight green straight green at all multiplayer campaign

[00:29:54] everything player campaign straight green can't argue with it I will say the bungee campaigns

[00:30:02] you would have to play those straight green yeah three I have issues with 343 I um so it's kind of like

[00:30:14] a yellow for me um but those first games man that's that's what brought me back to gaming yeah well

[00:30:25] yeah this game brought me back to gaming hell yeah very nice

[00:30:32] well straight green that's that's that's awesome so every every campaign you think they should play

[00:30:38] absolutely absolutely all right we have some difference of opinion this time which is good

[00:30:44] uh I'm gonna say as you both said straight green for basically everything bungee did

[00:30:51] although I didn't really play much of od sd because I just I don't remember why but

[00:30:54] I just kind of skipped over it uh but all the bungee games are really great uh four I'm going to give a

[00:31:00] yellow I think four had some really cool gameplay it had a really weird story and then five I'm

[00:31:08] going to have a red I don't think it's worth playing I didn't think I think that they really

[00:31:13] botched that story okay that's fair botched um I didn't play the multiplayer four or five

[00:31:20] because I played so what I did was I I actually went um I played all through all of the campaigns

[00:31:27] all the numbered campaigns ahead of infinite I replayed through them okay and I again like I

[00:31:33] had a great time through one two three um and four I had an okay time on five I was like my god

[00:31:39] can this be over it was it was not good but then infinite comes out and quite honestly

[00:31:45] I thought the campaign was excellent I actually would give that a green light again

[00:31:51] interesting um do we want to get into critiques now or do we want to save that until after the

[00:31:57] spoiler section let's save it till the spoilers because I think we're basically wrapped up here

[00:32:01] on spoiler free uh everyone if you haven't played halo go play it uh you know the story

[00:32:06] isn't perhaps the most central but I think it's got a lot of really great moments that are really

[00:32:11] great if you experience them firsthand so if you have not played the game and you've been with us

[00:32:17] just for the lulls as the kids say uh then it is game over for you but if you want to stick

[00:32:24] around for the spoilers we'll see you after the break

[00:32:28] and we're back so let's talk full spoilers now if you've not played the halo games or you don't want

[00:32:46] them to be spoiled for you be gone with ye and do not come back until ye set forth the conditions

[00:32:53] that I I don't know anyway just play the games and come back so here is a main plot synopsis before

[00:33:00] we get into details and I I mostly focused on halo one because I think that sets forth the main story

[00:33:05] and then you know the rest are just kind of continuations so the human race has expanded

[00:33:10] throughout the galaxy and come into contact with the hostile coalition of alien races known as the

[00:33:15] covenant the covenant appears to be interested in something called a halo a mysterious terraformed

[00:33:21] ring shaped planet they that they believe to be a weapon master chief petty officer john 117 is a

[00:33:29] spartan a genetically enhanced human with super strength agility stamina and durability he and

[00:33:36] his ai assistant Cortana discover the true purpose of the halo is to destroy all life in the galaxy

[00:33:43] to prevent the spread of the flood a hive mind parasitic organism that takes over any life it

[00:33:48] touches chief and Cortana destroy the halo before it can be used over the course of the rest of the

[00:33:56] series we meet characters such as the arbiter a covenant leader turned ally to master chief

[00:34:02] in halo three chief destroys another halo and goes missing following the destruction

[00:34:07] so that's the main bungee arc I'm just gonna really quick give you the halo four and five

[00:34:12] synopsis they explore chief's journey after his cryo sleep and explore the convoluted lore of the

[00:34:19] forerunners they also begin the storyline of Cortana's intelligence decaying causing her to

[00:34:24] become dangerous halo infinite reset the series in many ways being the first to include a

[00:34:29] free multiplayer mode and the first to feature a new non-cortana companion

[00:34:35] well I know that's a debatable point

[00:34:42] yeah that's a debatable point I'll give it a we're in we're in spoilers we're in spoilers we can

[00:34:47] say it's it's okay it's kind of Cortana all right it is um I uh just to get out in front of like

[00:34:55] what I think of the heart and soul of like halo storytelling is

[00:35:03] divorced of all of the the space politics and uh and ring worlds and all that I think the heart

[00:35:10] of halo storytelling has always been master chief in Cortana the end of the moment between those two

[00:35:17] and I I think um sorry to critique it right away but I think where 343 lost its way

[00:35:24] is whenever it tried to divert from the actual heart of the storytelling which is the bond between

[00:35:29] master chief and Cortana they tried to pull that string in the way that made us feel but I mean we

[00:35:36] kind of need the the buddy cop duo for me to sort of make it work uh and that's where it sort of

[00:35:43] starts to fall apart and it's one of the things that was so refreshing about infinite is that

[00:35:48] it kind of brings that back a little bit with and you know 343 get to have their cake and eat it

[00:35:53] too because you still get scary evil Cortana in the background with with the fresh young perky

[00:36:01] new Cortana basically yeah well I did like that they had you know villain Cortana just kind of

[00:36:07] come to terms with the fact that she was the villain and that she needed to stop herself

[00:36:11] and um you know I I do think that the whole her AI is decaying or I forgot how they said

[00:36:19] it but just like it's it's fading it's degradation degradation that's the right word

[00:36:25] I don't think that was necessary I think they could have made a really good story about the

[00:36:29] Prometheans and the foreigners without that uh but they did what they did and I think that

[00:36:36] infinite really made the most out of that situation great I hated that um

[00:36:43] I coming in I I I hated that part of the game like I did not want to see

[00:36:53] uh evil Cortana bent on eradicating the the humans eradicating all organic life all

[00:37:02] I didn't want it I didn't want it I didn't like it trying to yeah I it threw me off for

[00:37:11] a long time in the game even though like we said you know there's you know before

[00:37:19] there's the evil Cortana and then there's the newer

[00:37:23] you know nice Cortana that we all love right yeah I hated I hated this duality I didn't like it

[00:37:31] I didn't like it very understandable I didn't like playing this game with her as the antagonist

[00:37:39] I know it just felt well I didn't feel like she was the antagonist of infinite but I agree with you on

[00:37:45] four and five but you did have that you know new covenant leader the the what what were they

[00:37:50] called the banished or something like that yes uh so the banished uh I think that they were

[00:37:56] an interesting new faction and I and I appreciated that they figured out a way to bring the

[00:38:01] covenant back but not really yeah you kind of got to right um what is uh what's what's maria without

[00:38:09] king koopa so well we'll hand that out right in in halo four then when the promovians came and

[00:38:15] there were some cool new enemies in halo four but I think that we really missed out on a lot

[00:38:19] of action with the covenant and uh I do think that one of the biggest misopportunities with

[00:38:25] infinite was to bring back the arbiter because the arbiter to me is the most

[00:38:29] interesting character in the entire series oh my god you want to talk about just mind blowing

[00:38:35] moments like when you first got to step into the shoes of an elite yes just that that mission

[00:38:43] the the first one where you play as him and you're like infiltrating um the the facilities

[00:38:49] like it's just such a cool do we want to actually take it back and sort of like highlight

[00:38:54] game by game um of some of our like best story moments oh yeah give your favorite moments sure

[00:39:01] um I think the the the banner for the first game was like everything was cool colorful awesome

[00:39:08] just and then all of a sudden we get a zombie game in the middle of an alien shooter with the

[00:39:14] flood like it was just such a zag that I don't think any of us really saw it coming

[00:39:20] and just like this whole new enemy faction that completely changed the way you're playing the game

[00:39:26] you know you instead of these like intelligent units that are tucking and rolling all over the

[00:39:31] place or like you know like the grunts just being sort of a funny little thing you have these like

[00:39:37] bombers that are chasing you down these tiny little roaches that try and murder you essentially

[00:39:43] like it's just a such a wild turn and then like yeah just a tonal shift that you know you didn't get

[00:39:50] especially like with story for shooters back in the day with like well we got Duke nukem and other

[00:39:57] doom they got the demons around you yep yeah so like we just didn't get like interesting

[00:40:02] like story zags like that up until then at least I think and you know um bungee with like

[00:40:10] things like myth and marathon has always done like interesting story like interesting stories but

[00:40:15] I think they really knocked it out of the park right away with combat evolved obviously it's like

[00:40:21] it cemented itself sort of forever uh and into its what I would consider like shambling grave

[00:40:27] with uh current halo but um they cemented themselves as the like banner for the xbox system

[00:40:36] in general mm-hmm yeah I think that was one of the my favorite gaming moments ever

[00:40:44] encountering the flood for the first time oh absolutely that that that just it's I think like

[00:40:51] you said Brandon this sets the game apart from other shooters from other games period because

[00:40:57] you're you're in one thing and then boom you get hit with this curveball you know like out of

[00:41:04] nowhere and you're just like I can remember literally dropping my controller and yelling out

[00:41:14] a what the fuck in my living room yeah day that night it was you know after midnight I'm playing

[00:41:20] this game and I dropped the controller and it was like what the fuck what what was going on

[00:41:27] I didn't even think I turned it off and called my cousin who was also playing the game with me

[00:41:33] at the same time so he was you know and I'm like did you reach this part of it

[00:41:39] and we're on the phone it's like one o'clock in the morning like did you

[00:41:42] reach this part of it he's like no not yet I'm still the filler of all don't tell me don't

[00:41:47] tell me I'm like oh dude please hurry up like catch up catch up so clearly one of the best

[00:41:55] hands down moments from my video gaming experience ever is that moment when you get to meet the flood

[00:42:05] and hopefully you and your cousin linked up so that way you could get through the library

[00:42:09] because man what an experience that was me and my me and my body back is tough

[00:42:17] yeah even on playbacks it's tough knowing what's happening and it's still tough it's like

[00:42:23] that's a really great moment I'm glad you brought that up Brennan because that is you know when I had not

[00:42:30] remembered most of it when I went back from my playthrough back in 2021 before the release of

[00:42:35] Halo Infinite and I was like man that's such a good moment because you have these two factions

[00:42:43] now that are really believable in their motivations and that are completely incompatible

[00:42:49] with you and you've got to fight them off on both sides but also try to convince one that the other's

[00:42:53] an enemy right because you've got the covenant thinking that this thing is like a holy weapon

[00:42:59] and it's going to help them defeat the humans for whatever reason uh and then you've got the flood

[00:43:04] who are just like yeah we we live to consume and period uh then you've got 343 so I guess the

[00:43:09] third faction of 343 and his robots trying to stop you trying to make you destroy all life in

[00:43:16] the galaxy boy master chief got his got his work cut out for him he sure does and he's only on his

[00:43:22] first set of me on our armor boy Halo 2 what what's uh Jean we haven't given you an opportunity to

[00:43:32] identify your favorite moment yet um and Halo 2 it would probably be when the arbiter finds out

[00:43:42] that everything that he's been told is a lie oh great moment that was like I felt so bad for him

[00:43:51] I felt so bad for the guy all right everything he's a fanatic you know he really like he really

[00:43:58] believed he's a true believer and to come to this moment and you're standing next to your

[00:44:06] you know number one adversary a number one for the person that who you look across and say

[00:44:13] if only I could get past this person then everything that I want will be at my fingertips right

[00:44:19] the demon himself master chief and then to be told hey wait a minute uh everything that you know

[00:44:28] you've been trying to think that is really good it's actually terrible not just for the humans but

[00:44:36] also for you plus he not only is a true believer but the covenant leadership has turned against him

[00:44:43] and it's just like yes we're sending you out there with old ass armor and you're just gonna

[00:44:48] probably fail on this mission and die but then he keeps succeeding he keeps against all the odds

[00:44:54] against all the odds and then he meets what was the name of the grave mind oh yeah yeah

[00:45:00] but the genius of it really is that you know he he's an underdog and they set us up you know we

[00:45:07] faced the the covenant is just like really tough to beat you know these elites are really like

[00:45:12] just kind of evil and just really into killing us uh but then they're like how do we get you

[00:45:17] to sympathize we'll make him an underdog right we'll make him doomed to fail we'll give him

[00:45:22] weakened armor we'll have him be a true believer and i'm in the arbiter is one of the best characters

[00:45:29] in gaming i think my xbox has named the arbiter you know how you can name your xbox different

[00:45:33] things it's named the arbiter i have the halo 20th anniversary xbox man i love halo uh you got

[00:45:41] a lot of heavy lifting there too with keith david being the voice of the arbiter just such a

[00:45:46] a commanding like badass smooth voice so iconic iconic is that true i had no idea yeah oh my god

[00:45:57] um that's insane mind blown there for you uh my favorite halo two moment is when breaking

[00:46:01] benjamin kicks off when you're in the middle of a gunfight only the strongest will survive

[00:46:06] such a kick ass like i just remember like hearing guitar swell it up in there uh and you you hear

[00:46:13] like just you know early 2000s uh just i don't even know what you'd call it just pop like like light

[00:46:23] metal kickoff it was just such a such a fun fun part of that game um yeah yeah uh what about

[00:46:31] you you got a third or you got a favorite part of halo two or do you want to go to three i'm

[00:46:35] going to three i think let's each do one on the order because uh honestly i don't even think

[00:46:40] i could do one for four or five so uh we could just do the bungee ones that's fine that's that's fair

[00:46:46] um halo three for me my one of my fondest gaming memories ever is playing over and over again

[00:46:54] the escape from the halo at the end with my friends yeah campaign co-op online

[00:47:00] you know it's a saturday morning and we're just you know drunk on mount and do

[00:47:06] just completely wired with caffeine and we are just going to laugh and yell at each other

[00:47:14] and play through that escape on legendary and have an amazing time and of course we're

[00:47:19] going to have the grunt birthday party skull on so that every time we headshot a grunt confetti pops out

[00:47:26] yeah i think um i think for me because i'd uh i at this time i had read all the halo books that

[00:47:37] had released so i was like pretty yeah i was pretty entrenched in the lore at the time of halo three

[00:47:43] so like the big depths in halo three got me um with uh with miranda keys and with sergeant

[00:47:51] johnson fucking guilty spark asshole um so like those those were rough but yeah as far as like

[00:47:58] just the the pulse pounding fun i'm gonna i'm with you on the escape like it's sort of it

[00:48:03] it sort of runs back halo ones uh situation where you you know the last level is the warthog

[00:48:09] like surprisingly like this is a shooter no final boss we're gonna drive um yeah it's it's

[00:48:16] sort of that situation um and yeah it was a pretty pretty good experience i'll agree with you there

[00:48:22] well what about you john when he kills the profit high profit of truth hell yeah oh that's really

[00:48:30] that's my moment that's my moment yeah when obeda does it that's fine that's my moment that's

[00:48:35] that's the killer moment for me um i you know with this game not just this game but with

[00:48:43] a lot of the games that i play i if the story is not engaging for me even though it could be

[00:48:49] there are some shooters there are some action games that you just played just to play

[00:48:53] and you just loved uh what you're seeing on screen right but there are certain games where i want to

[00:48:59] be pulled into the universe and halo is definitely a game that i was pulled into the universe

[00:49:06] so the story got more and more important to me as i played it right more so than the action

[00:49:15] yeah so seeing that moment at that point of time really was cathartic and made me feel good

[00:49:25] oh yeah it made me feel good yeah i love to see a religious zealot destroyed oh there you go

[00:49:32] well also he was kind of full of it right like i don't think he fully believed it all either he was

[00:49:37] no i don't think so i don't think so yeah i mean it's just power power corrupting of course yeah

[00:49:43] yeah so we're mixed about four five right yes we should be talking about reach quick let's do

[00:49:52] oh i mean damn as far as like stories go like reach was really cool um i think it gets it gets

[00:50:02] both over and under hyped i think i think it's cool to sort of say reach is the worst halo uh

[00:50:07] that bungee made now um but i think they built like a really cool like cast of characters in reach

[00:50:17] and to see everybody like because it's a doomed campaign because you know that the spartans die

[00:50:23] and that you know john's the last one or one of the last ones well he's one of the last ones of

[00:50:30] that generation of spartan yeah the spartan twos yeah and everyone but uh george uh from the

[00:50:38] reach team are spartan threes they're not spartan twos george is the only one that was in the same

[00:50:43] class as john george the big one with the heavy gun obviously because the spartan twos were all

[00:50:48] fucking huge but um yeah like and to just like see the way they all go out just so heroically

[00:50:56] and then obviously noble six at the end like the uh survive like such an iconic moment uh and

[00:51:03] like the payoff of this crew doing everything that they could do to get court on it's a master

[00:51:09] chief and to kick off the whole damn franchise such a such a gratifying thing especially as the

[00:51:14] swan song for bungee uh uh for the halo franchise i think i think it is it was an excellent story

[00:51:22] and executed perfectly to me i don't disagree i don't disagree i think my favorite moment is

[00:51:28] seeing six on the gun as the autumn is leaving oh yeah you know they could just just making

[00:51:37] making sure that the ship gets away like you said that you know and again it's just the story

[00:51:44] bits for me that have left a uh a lasting impact for how i look at the game and how

[00:51:52] i play the game today it's just um because other games like we said earlier other games do things

[00:52:00] better but the story for this game not a lot of other games come close to it

[00:52:07] sure yeah you know what this game does that i'm i'm realizing especially with reach uh that it

[00:52:12] does better than a lot of other games is what we call in the tv stuff the the traveling road show

[00:52:18] right is oh yeah chemistry between chief and cortana and the chemistry between the noble

[00:52:24] group is really great like it feels natural it feels like rapport between friends it

[00:52:30] you know with chief and cortana it feels uneasy at first right why is this chip in my head why is

[00:52:34] this ai in my head and then it's just fine you know they they get used to it yeah perfect symbiotic

[00:52:41] relationship i don't you love the traveling road show of master chief and the pilot in halo infinite

[00:52:47] wasn't that a good road show i was honestly it was pretty fun just such a like a ner such a ball

[00:52:56] of nervous energy to chiefs like hey man don't worry about it i've kicked ass just just stay here

[00:53:03] just don't go anywhere just stay right here you're gonna be fine you're in good hands yeah

[00:53:09] you know we've we've been sort of alluding the whole time to gameplay talk but can we talk about

[00:53:14] sort of what makes halo stand out from other shooters game feel bungee bungee does it best

[00:53:24] even to this day i think that they are the best as far as making a game feel good to play

[00:53:31] hmm um but what what does that right yeah it's it's got to be something to do with um

[00:53:39] they sort of they definitely if you're playing on the sticks on controller they sort of

[00:53:43] pioneered the aim assist system um and that feels good they they simplify a lot of mechanics as well

[00:53:52] um you know they added aim down sights and everything in some versions of halo but like for

[00:53:58] the most part your your shooting well uh what's the word i'm looking for well balanced guns

[00:54:06] um like such an iconic uh arsenal in halo um each gun specifically designed to do to excel

[00:54:16] in certain tasks and i uh i think they just they crushed it um and like there are fun eras of

[00:54:24] guns as well obviously if you can have ammo for it the magnum is going to be in your hands

[00:54:30] for the entirety of halo one um if you can help it uh it's just such a great feeling gun especially

[00:54:35] in pvp where you can it's just it is literally just broken um and then the battle rifle starting

[00:54:42] in halo two like it's just a good feeling gun and i i think that's kind of hard to um

[00:54:49] it's kind of hard to quantify outside of it just feels good to play uh do you think you

[00:54:55] you could do it better than me i think i think we're like no it's it's the bounce back right like

[00:55:01] just the recoil feels real it feels really meaty intangible yes everything is very physics based

[00:55:07] whereas most of the games are like yeah you can the rocket jump is a thing um because of the physics

[00:55:14] based uh combat yeah thank you thank you for saying that because you're that that's the thing

[00:55:19] i'm here uh you know something else that differentiates halo is these shields right this is not like

[00:55:28] you can get a shield of fortnite and something like that but they just feel different right these

[00:55:32] regenerating shields uh it's not something you're going to get into call of duty something like that

[00:55:36] you know call of duty i'm gonna if i get shot out i'm already dead basically especially now the

[00:55:41] ttks are so low yeah yeah but but halo is like i can get shot at and i have a good chance to

[00:55:48] get to cover depending on where i am and that's always been a different cadence than most shooters to me

[00:55:56] yeah definitely it uh it gives it a thing where um it it feels like dumping bullets into a thing

[00:56:04] doesn't feel like what are what are we doing here like in the division uh you know you're just

[00:56:09] dudes running around in body armor and it feels weird to dump a mag into a dude and him not to die

[00:56:14] um but you know you've got a you've got a plasma shield basically around you

[00:56:21] and so it makes sense like it's a it's a good lower explanation yeah uh for superhumans right

[00:56:27] like they're super humans yeah yeah they're they're giant cyborgs yeah absolutely and i love the

[00:56:33] sound that it makes oh yeah satisfying have you ever felt a better relief than when you're in cover

[00:56:43] and you feel that coming back up oh yeah it's boy oh boy it's funny john actually in the uh in the

[00:56:50] books sorry i we're pretty close uh master chief uh in the books often talks about that's master

[00:56:56] cheeks to you he like there's so many like parts aside yet from the show uh where he actually has

[00:57:03] to take cover and wait for his shields to regenerate like i remember especially in the fall of reach

[00:57:08] like um i think it was that one or maybe it's the flood but he actually like takes the time in the

[00:57:13] books to to take cover and wait for his shields to regenerate yeah yeah it's a great mechanic uh to

[00:57:22] to tell story through gameplay very good yeah and i don't want to say it's better or worse than

[00:57:27] something like call of duty i think it's different because you have to strategize differently it's not

[00:57:32] just will they come out in the open for a second it's will they be out in the open long enough

[00:57:36] for me to kill them before somebody else can kill me yeah absolutely it's a different thing yeah it's

[00:57:43] it is a different thing it's also a lot floatier than a lot of games right you know yeah and you're

[00:57:48] kind of bouncing around the older halos you go the more floaty they kind of feel especially when

[00:57:53] you're driving oh especially when you're driving but i think the for me the gameplay

[00:57:59] it's it's it's chaotic but controlled if that makes sense yes i can i can just you know like i'm

[00:58:07] closing my eyes and and seeing you know master chief like running in that feeling that you get

[00:58:14] when he's running and shooting or he's running and trying to get to cover it's just really like

[00:58:21] this is badass yeah this is just no other way to to say it um the mechanics like you guys

[00:58:28] already said the balance with with you know the weapons and just the overall feel of of how

[00:58:37] those things operate just makes it you know it's all consuming like when you're in the firefight

[00:58:45] you're in the firefight for sure there is nothing else going on and you're just dashing and running

[00:58:52] and and just trying to to make it out safely in all the while you're just thinking to yourself like

[00:58:59] this is a fucking game this is you know like if you if you take it back to when you first started

[00:59:06] playing halo like i don't know about you guys but i would pause and be like this is like a fucking

[00:59:12] game this is a game this is a game like you know just talking to myself like oh shit this is

[00:59:21] wow you know and it takes a it takes something really special to to make you step out of it

[00:59:29] and almost be in fourth wall yourself playing you know appreciating it as it happens as it happens

[00:59:37] yep yep there's also there's another moment in halo three that made me be like oh this is a game

[00:59:45] and uh it's it's i was assaulting the covenant on like a hilltop i don't remember what level i was in

[00:59:52] and i just remember this smug elite was standing there right next to a barricade

[01:00:00] and i i went to shoot at him i thought i thought i knew and he moves with such a smug

[01:00:06] sly air to him right behind the barrier and i was like you bastard and i i realized in that

[01:00:12] moment that gaming ai had gotten better and i think halo was honestly one of the first really good ai

[01:00:19] to fight against yep definitely definitely you had to calculate what you were doing you're just

[01:00:25] couldn't run up and say oh i'm spraying everybody didn't work it didn't work because everybody

[01:00:31] would would get to cover and before you knew it your shields were gone yep so god forbid you

[01:00:36] kick it to legendary and you get one shot by a jackal that you didn't see the jackals so that's

[01:00:42] that's something else right the enemy variety is you've got the jackals with the shields that

[01:00:46] are pain in the ass which have the dumbest guns that are the worst like if you get down to uh to

[01:00:53] to those jackal guns you're fucked like i that's that's like oh man i am scraping the bottom of

[01:01:00] the barrel here i'm i can't i can't reload anything i'm getting these these little plasma pistols

[01:01:06] well the cool thing about the arsenal as well is that everyone could use it so like no matter who's

[01:01:11] using what gun except for some instances with the first game but if somebody's using a gun

[01:01:17] you can pick it up and use it yeah or if it eludes like i want to use a needler he'll

[01:01:22] tuck and roll on a grunts corpse and pick up the needler and use it against you so like

[01:01:28] that's one of the cooler things that halo did as well i think you could also make your

[01:01:32] marine teammates trade you their guns which i absolutely i don't remember if you do that in

[01:01:37] the first one but you can at least do that in three i remember i think you could and the best

[01:01:40] thing to do is to give them the rocket because they'll uh the rocket or the sniper because

[01:01:44] they're excellent shots and they don't run out of ammo they don't run out of oh interesting

[01:01:48] i didn't know that would have saved me a lot of time oh yeah keep your keep your marines alive

[01:01:53] because they'll be great snipers very nice uh and and then just i kind of mentioned it before

[01:02:01] but i just wanted to pay an homage to campaign co-op especially i think couch co-op is something

[01:02:07] that unfortunately they couldn't make happen at infinite for whatever reason i miss it it was

[01:02:12] such an amazing part of halo that i will always cherish the memories of absolutely yeah i think

[01:02:21] that's one of the best parts of the game yeah you know quite honestly just sitting

[01:02:28] next to somebody and rocking and rocking it out that that was that was yeah those were some of

[01:02:34] the best memories that you could that i had gaming definitely same did you guys ever do

[01:02:40] the big land parties back in the day yes i did not because i was too young i just didn't know

[01:02:45] what that was or how to do it we had a buddy who had a external garage with four tv's two up top

[01:02:53] in the loft and two down below we had four xboxes and 16 players playing uh and that's the way we

[01:03:00] would roll we actually were not sort of in the first round of xbox live players because we were

[01:03:06] like we don't need xbox live we've got the garage and we're gonna go all play halo at the

[01:03:10] garage that is so cool that's pretty cool yeah yeah that's not my favorite gaming memories because i

[01:03:17] mean we would just we do the thing we'd go to hardy's and buy all their spicy chickens

[01:03:21] carls jr for those of you left coasters um you know we definitely code red and copious

[01:03:29] doritos were consumed red but yeah i mean like it's uh these are memories that you can still have

[01:03:36] you know you're playing fortnite now probably maybe infinite but like yeah like we we look upon

[01:03:42] these things with rose tinted glasses but like um these are still these are still memories you can

[01:03:47] have and it like it's it's it's a cool thing now like obviously the land party and the the

[01:03:53] split screen are sort of the foundation for all this but i am so thankful that as an adult

[01:04:00] i don't have to drive over to my buddy's house if i want to get in the couple of rounds

[01:04:05] absolutely no i'm i'm in a truck right now i'm at work

[01:04:10] so there's absolutely no way to do that by the way yes uh lorhounds audience if i sound a little

[01:04:15] difference because i'm in my work truck so sorry to break the fourth wall there but

[01:04:20] next next audio that you hear from me should probably sound a little bit better but i think

[01:04:24] we're making this work we're we're making it work we're making it work we're having a great

[01:04:28] conversation about halo uh yeah yeah i think that there are plenty of opportunities even today

[01:04:34] to just be silly on gaming right i mean i i've had silly experiences with my friends my the same

[01:04:40] halo crew i had in high school we still play games sometimes same destiny friends yeah yeah we don't

[01:04:45] we don't destiny but a lot of us fortnite every now and then so that's usually what we or or

[01:04:50] call duty depending on if the call of duty was good that year so we have a good time and

[01:04:56] you know i even have goofy moments with them like what i'm playing fortnite with them one night

[01:04:59] and i'm like you know what i'm just gonna drive this car out the wall and i just start slamming

[01:05:02] the wall and uh my friend just couldn't stop laughing and it's just like that's that's recapturing

[01:05:08] that halo magic for me that is a halo moment there for sure yes yeah yeah all right jon it's

[01:05:16] time you were telling me you were laughing before because i wrote this one line in the

[01:05:19] outline jon pits the tv show oh god master cheeks why should we watch it well based on this conversation

[01:05:29] now i don't know no but but no and no seriousness is not okay all right i i think the the first

[01:05:42] season is pretty pretty difficult the reason why i say it's pretty difficult is because

[01:05:53] this halo tv series is not the game it's not the same it's like an ultimate universe of halo

[01:06:03] so everything that you know from the characters i'm talking about like um everything there's

[01:06:09] there's no similarities to the characters that you know and i think that's what a lot of people

[01:06:16] got thrown off by because master chief story is different um noble team is not here

[01:06:26] quartana and master chief are not uh in that classic symbiotic relationship even after two seasons

[01:06:36] so it's really a different story that they're telling um

[01:06:44] but it is enjoyable in season two i will say watching the fall of reach

[01:06:52] even though it's not the fall of reach that i knew was really cool

[01:06:58] that storyline played out really well i thought it was really well done

[01:07:03] um some of the action sequences are really are really awesome um to see like the weapons that

[01:07:10] we're used to seeing in live action really cool stuff um is it a must watch no will you be

[01:07:20] disappointed if you do watch it i don't think it's not what's another game adaptation um

[01:07:30] we got a couple going right now we got fallout on tv we got the last of us okay so i just watched

[01:07:36] first episode of fallout yeah fallout is already a better tv show than halo i hear a lot of hearing

[01:07:44] that fallout is like like like way better than it has any right to be yeah just in case one of

[01:07:50] our listeners here is somebody who tunes out for credits how dare they just kidding um we do have

[01:07:56] coverage on our network by uh aron and chase who are our affiliates on the radioactive rambling

[01:08:01] spot you can find that in the show notes so they're going to be covering the fallout series

[01:08:04] they've already got their coverage of episodes one through three out now yes so first episode

[01:08:10] is already better than this halo series master chief is still master chief

[01:08:17] and if you enjoy master chief i think you'll enjoy watching him become the master chief that you know

[01:08:28] he's not there yet he's not there yet he's not there yet but we we hope that he gets

[01:08:36] i actually like the first season i think you like the first season yeah um i think the

[01:08:40] characters sort of like are what the failure was for me which is weird because i'm such a

[01:08:46] character first person usually first person uh i'm such a character first person uh but um i think

[01:08:54] like some of the characters like kwan and i can't remember the guy's name uh the the derelict

[01:08:59] spartan man uh i can bouquin wood by planes and i can't remember his name it's soren soren

[01:09:06] thank you yes there you go thank you yeah um but i you know it's funny uh because of final fantasy

[01:09:13] i wasn't fully intending on watching uh all of uh season two of halo uh and actually talking about

[01:09:21] it but i just i didn't have the time to get to it but so i actually still haven't seen any of season

[01:09:27] two but i i'm excited to get to it and i you know i i didn't hate the groundwork they

[01:09:32] laid in the first season uh because i'm pretty siss up not you know i'm not gonna freak out

[01:09:38] they're not ruining the thing i love by adapting it no they did not so like i think people can be a

[01:09:44] little precious with their favorite little gemstones but uh yeah and i mean like there's

[01:09:50] something to that like if you wanted to see the thing you love brought to live action

[01:09:54] this is probably one of the only chances that we're gonna get at least for the next couple

[01:09:59] years or so that you'll get so i get it but i mean like come on man have fun it's halo and i think

[01:10:05] like i said season two um ups the action which i know a lot of people wanted um so the action

[01:10:12] has been up and i think the story in season two plays out a little bit better than the season one

[01:10:20] so i i would if you've played halo i think you can drop in season two personally okay okay

[01:10:28] that's good to know uh i got maybe five or six episodes of season one and i had to drop off

[01:10:34] for it because i was just busy with other stuff but i uh i do want to go back to it eventually

[01:10:38] and and john you've convinced me that it's a worthwhile watch so i appreciate that oh you're

[01:10:43] welcome thank you well sold sir well sold all right so we don't have feedback for this episode

[01:10:53] we didn't promote it very well because uh life's been crazy if you've if you've been

[01:10:57] tuning into our other shows i've been kind of out of commission for like three weeks because

[01:11:02] a lot of stuff going on with my mom's health and then i was sick and and there was just

[01:11:07] a million things going on but i'm really glad we finally sat down to talk about halo for a bit

[01:11:11] i think next month uh brandon and i are gonna be talking about final fantasy seven rebirth

[01:11:17] we already covered remakes so we're gonna cover rebirth the second game uh because we both can't

[01:11:22] stop playing it and why not use it in as as an excuse to uh podcast about it um if you want to send

[01:11:28] us feedback though you can send feedback to lhp at the lower hounds dot com you can go to the

[01:11:33] lower hounds dot com and use the contact form or you can tag us on discord and say hey feature

[01:11:38] this in the episode whatever you want to do so send us your feedback about final fantasy seven

[01:11:43] rebirth for next month or just send us an email about halo because you know you just wanted to

[01:11:48] chat quick programming notes uh we have a patreon and it's a lovely place where you can get early

[01:11:55] and ad-free access to all our podcasts you can get bonus episodes like shire side chats

[01:12:01] and second breakfast you can support our production and help us keep going you could get

[01:12:07] the show tracker that david puts together which is a guide that'll show you when different shows

[01:12:12] are coming out through the year because i know i have a hard time keeping track and of course

[01:12:16] you can get the different show guides that david and the team have been putting together like for

[01:12:21] true detective at shogan i know we're planning to do one for rings of power so that will be a lot of

[01:12:26] fun uh and it's it's uh it's a good time we'd love to have you david does incredible work

[01:12:32] with those uh that that show tracker is it is outstanding and uh his guides i didn't get to

[01:12:38] the the newest one but the one for true detective was uh amazing so i know he's insane

[01:12:44] the man's putting in some work i don't know how he has the time for it i don't know either but he does

[01:12:50] yeah that's a great job at it and of course if you want to do something similar to patreon

[01:12:55] have built a little bit more for podcasters we'd love to have you on supercast which is very

[01:12:59] similar and same pricing it's just uh yeah it gives us a little bit more flexibility we've

[01:13:04] got some plans to expand some features over there you know we're not going to give any

[01:13:08] like podcasts that are exclusive to over there but uh we're just trying to use features that

[01:13:14] aren't necessarily present on patreon so stay tuned for more updates on that

[01:13:19] for now i want to talk about our uh affiliate programming we've got as i mentioned radioactive

[01:13:26] ramblings a fallout podcast a brand new sponsored podcast on our feed please go check them out

[01:13:33] subscribe rate review aron k on the discord one of our mods is the host along with his friend

[01:13:40] chase aron's a big fallout fan chases new to the property so it's a similar lor haudi format where

[01:13:46] one person is the lor expert and it is a bin drop but they're breaking up the podcast into several

[01:13:52] episodes so they've got episodes one through three out now by the time this is out there maybe

[01:13:58] episodes four through six breakdown out but i'm not sure quite yet when this podcast is

[01:14:04] going to drop i think it's going to drop before their episode four to six breakdown

[01:14:08] uh and then of course david and i will be on their feed at some point just to talk about

[01:14:13] our initial impressions on the show so you can look forward to that please please please give them a

[01:14:19] reading and review and a subscriber really helps them find new listeners we also have

[01:14:25] another pretty new podcast rings and rituals by maryland r pockilla and dr sarah brown of

[01:14:30] signum university they're doing an analysis of season one of the rings of power through

[01:14:35] the lens of ritual so they're looking at the bigger tolkien legendarium they're looking at ritual in

[01:14:40] our daily lives and they're going through the harfits and the dwarves and all their singing

[01:14:46] and dancing and possibly leaving each other behind and the darkness and the light and

[01:14:51] they're trying to get some deeper meaning out of this and i'm loving this podcast i don't know if

[01:14:54] you two are listening but it's a great time i was the first yeah it's really good stuff

[01:15:00] it's really really good it's really deep i believe well get out of my podcast i'm such a bad friend

[01:15:08] no no no you're you're good so anyway please go check that out is they're really brilliant people

[01:15:13] i could listen to them all day i should have taken a class with one of them at some point

[01:15:18] wool shift dust is covering uh that's a leashes podcast by the way covering beacon 21

[01:15:24] 23 beacon 23 a lot of numbers running around beacon 23 season two she did an interview with the

[01:15:30] author hu howie and she's gearing up to do a deeper dive in dune uh elisha also thank you elisha for

[01:15:39] being the sub for me on half of the season of shogun now because life was crazy and we really

[01:15:45] appreciate that we have a network of supporting people uh properly howard movie review is finally

[01:15:52] back i'm excited and they're doing a season called felonies and fugazis oh boy and or as a fugazis

[01:16:00] uh it's they're doing a series on crime films from the 20th century it's fugazi by the way

[01:16:07] it's fugazis okay thank you thank you that's fugazi uh so they did a draft of their picks

[01:16:13] and it was a really fun listen but uh they're doing point break shake down tango and cash

[01:16:18] pulp fiction gross point blank and rocky good that's gonna be what i'm really fun to grow

[01:16:26] yeah yeah yeah so subscribe over there check it out i just saw a review for them it was great it said

[01:16:31] this is the podcast i didn't know i needed so yeah point break great time let's get with

[01:16:38] the point break let's go and of course just a reminder when severance comes out we'll be

[01:16:42] covering severance with the guys over on properly howard we're gonna have an our own

[01:16:47] standalone feed you can find all these feeds in our show notes for us we've got shogan currently

[01:16:56] running david and alisha just did a month one shot on monkey man which i don't even know what that is

[01:17:01] but it seems like an interesting movie it's a great movie that's awesome i'm glad uh john

[01:17:08] john you're doing something with x-men 97 what's the plan on that yeah we're gonna um do that

[01:17:13] once the season is over we're gonna recap the entire season one time and so that should be

[01:17:19] lots of fun because it's been quite surprising i will say that it's been quite surprising i'm

[01:17:27] surprised how much i've enjoyed it so far so yeah i heard this is i've heard this is the best

[01:17:32] from marvel since endgame uh which is i don't i don't know i gotta think about that huh interesting

[01:17:43] i gotta give that some thought big talk over there brandon yeah that's that's yeah wow can you back it up

[01:17:50] so brandon i'm gonna put the ball in your court are you doing masters of the air with david

[01:17:55] oh boy um i i watched the first two episodes and i thought they were pretty cool

[01:18:01] but i have i have i have fallen behind and i gotta watch like what is it six more episodes

[01:18:08] yeah so so brannett david's at least gonna do something on masters of the air we'll see if

[01:18:12] you join him yes and there's david has actual experts that want to talk world war two so

[01:18:17] i don't know i i might take that ball in the air and let someone alley up it uh we'll we'll see but

[01:18:23] you'll always be able to find me here talking gaming um fair enough that's what's up fair enough

[01:18:29] and um civil war as well the movie yes yes yes yes you guys should be up on that yeah so you'll

[01:18:36] be covering that for that so i think ron dawson's gonna be covering that with you yes i believe so

[01:18:42] very cool ron dawson will also be covering three body problem in a one shot with david

[01:18:48] wow um real quick where i'm recording uh some brilliant stories with marilin finally we're

[01:18:55] doing it it's happening it's moving into a uh a rotating guest format because david has left me

[01:19:02] as surely as the noldor left valinor but marilin arpaquilla is my first rotating guest and we'll see

[01:19:13] who i get after that and then marilin and i are gonna go forward with some earth sea as well so

[01:19:18] well we we got plenty of voices on the lorhans network let's let's divvy up the work a little

[01:19:21] bit right absolutely delegation plenty of other stuff coming house of the dragon the acolyte

[01:19:27] the boys the bear dr who severance rings of power busy year busy year but stick around for all the

[01:19:35] updates quick thank yous to everybody discord server boosters opus in the machine gnarls

[01:19:41] aran k tiller the thriller duve 71 and dork of the ninjas the our lore masters are patreon

[01:19:48] lore masters and i guess supercast lore masters too which is our top tier supporter we love

[01:19:53] you we cherish you we love all our patreon supporters but only one tier gets that special shout out

[01:19:59] every episode and that is samaritian mark h michael g michelle e david w brian p nick w s c peter o h

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[01:20:20] dj miwa andra b quang yu dead i jedi bob nathan t alex v erin t sub zero erin k deli v and mother ship

[01:20:32] 61 our newest lore master then we have our special request gnarls and adrian

[01:20:41] well john i really appreciate you joining us on the lorhans play i hope you come back again soon

[01:20:47] yeah i hope to be back stop and buy this was fun this was lots of fun i hope to be back um

[01:20:53] yeah let me know what else you guys are covering and if i've played i'd love to come back on and talk

[01:21:00] yeah i know you're not really a final fantasy person but we'll let you know we're covering the

[01:21:03] following month okay cool brandon always a pleasure get some sleep before you gotta go back to work

[01:21:10] yeah indeed indeed i'm gonna be hitting hitting the hay as soon as we upload this thing so yeah i'm

[01:21:16] but always fun to take time out and talk gaming and same here it's time for game over the lorhans

[01:21:27] podcast is produced and published by the lorhans you can send questions and feedback and voicemails at

[01:21:33] the lorhans dot com slash contact get early and ad-free access to all lorhans podcast at patreon

[01:21:39] dot com slash the lorhans any opinions stated are ours personally and do not reflect the

[01:21:44] opinion of or belong to any employers or other entities thanks for listening

[01:21:51] hey listeners if you've been listening to our show chances are you've heard the wonderful

[01:21:56] contributions of our favorite Tolkien scholar Marilyn R. Pukila Marilyn just launched her own

[01:22:02] podcast on our network called rings and rituals join me and dr. Sara brown on our journey through

[01:22:07] the Lord of the Rings the Rings of Power through the lens of ritual episodes drop every other

[01:22:12] wednesday on the rings and rituals feed linked in the show notes see you there